I seem to be even less willing these days to continue with books I’m not totally enjoying. In some ways I know I am missing out on worthy material, but seriously, these days if it doesn’t grab me pretty quickly, I’m not going to give it the time. After finishing a great vintage spy thriller by Helen MacInnes (Hidden Target) I had a difficult time settling into something new.

To wit:

Love Gardam’s Filth novels and one or two others, but this adolescent tale just left me a wee bit bored. There were some charming, witty elements to it, but not enough to get me to finish it.I’ll admit I bought this one for the cover. In fact, I went online to get the UK version just for the cover. This one I could imagine picking up at some point and finding it interesting. So I will keep it for now. But for now? No.Having read and loved Cluny Brown and more recently Brittania Mews, I thought this wold be the book to shake me from my doldrums. But I’m coming to realize that Margery Sharp is hit or miss for me. This one started out amusing me, but then some circus/vaudeville types enter the picture and well, that’s where I gave up. Now, as I look at the cover, it makes me wonder if I might yet be missing out on something. Looks almost agricultural. That seems promising.Well, I loved just about everything about this novel. Not necessarily my favorite Auchincloss, but it hit all the right spots. A 1960s novel written about the War years at a boys prep school in New England with flashbacks to even earlier periods. Just what I needed.

I’m trying to think of a formula for continuing or giving up on a book. I usually give a book 60 pages but if it’s very long that hardly seems fair. Page 80 may be brilliant and I miss out. How do you decide to give up or continue ?

I am a pretty ruthless reader at the best of times but am definitely having more difficulties than usual finding something to fit my current mood. After all, you can always go back one day (in calmer times) and give books a second chance.

hi! i somehow stumbled upon this post – in regards to The Nutmeg Tree – i just finished it and LOVED it but I feel you with the vaudeville/circus part of the beginning. I wasn’t really into that part either and almost gave up, but it gets 100 times better. I really think if you kept at it you’d end up enjoying it just as much, if not more than Cluny Brown!